While Wrede falls in the same camp as the famous Schweitzer, it is just a bit intimidating to see the ranks of his contemporary German Lutheran scholars including Adolph Harnack who would dispute some of his opinions. One of the most controversial theological opinions is the relative importance to Paul of the doctrine of `the justification by faith' which was so important to Luther's using Paul's theology as the cornerstone of his arguments against the Roman Catholic church of his day. Wrede points out that Paul mentions this doctrine in only two of his epistles, `Romans' and `Galatians', just the ones which happen to be devoted to the Jewish law and it's irrelevance to being a follower of the Christ, Jesus.

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